The Storm Carries On

Hoover football stays undefeated with 42-8 win against Marshall.

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Hoover’s Frank Higginbotham, left, and Joseph Dizon celebrate during Hoover’s 42-8 win on Friday.

By Katherine Coppersmith and Breann Pimenta

Another Friday night football game, another win for the Hoover Tornados. This time, it was a 42-8 victory against Marshall that improved the team’s record to 6-0, the first time Hoover has started a season with six consecutive wins since 1953.

Hoover started off strong with senior running back Cedric Lynum scoring the first touchdown — which was his team-leading eighth score of the season — less than a minute into the game. The kick after, made by junior Daniel Baneham was good, making it 7-0. 

I am proud of these guys for coming out with a win even with the illnesses from players all week and also having key players on concussion protocol,” said Lynum, who entered the game averaging 68 rushing yards per game. 

With 9:28 left to go in the first quarter, senior Frank Higginbotham made a four-yard catch in the endzone for the second touchdown of the night and his fourth of the season.

Hoover’s Daniel Rangel had a highlight with a 61-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. Rangel, Hoover’s top receiver, added another 15-yard scoring catch in the opening quarter, giving him five scores on the year. 

“We just gotta continue doing what we do on Fridays, as long as we stay on top of our game we can beat any team,” Rangel said.

Junior Joseph Dizon had his first touchdown of the year, scoring with 18 seconds to go to give Hoover a 35-0 lead entering the half. 

Andrew Torres capped the scoring with a touchdown run in the second half, giving him two touchdowns in two games since the senior returned to the Tornados after missing half of last year’s games and the first four games of this season with concussion issues.

“It’s kinda weird to be unhappy after a game but it feels good to win,” Hoover Coach Azad Herabidian said. “We had a lot of kids sick this week and it felt like we were playing down to a level that we shouldn’t have been. Instead of our guys playing up to their normal standards they played down to their standards. 

“We can’t do that because we can’t let other teams dictate our game speed and level of play, we have to dictate our own standards. At this point just having fun and making sure our guys are prepared the rest is focusing on things I can control. Every week our goal is to make sure our guys are in competitive situations where they know what to expect and we coach them up from there, and the rest is in their hands”

Lynum said there’s pressure in being undefeated. 

“The pressure of being 6-0 is definitely amongst us,  as our coaches like to preach that every team we play is going to want to break our streak,” he said. “So our team makes sure we keep the intensity and physicality high to come out with W’s in these games.”

Hoover will attempt to make history again next week against Nogales. No Hoover team has ever started a season 7-0.